The Psychology of Designing a Website

When you click on to a website, you immediately know if it’s the one for you. Well, perhaps not immediately, but pretty much – it is said that a user’s brain makes decisions in just a 20th of a second when viewing a web page.

This is all down to our psychological view of websites – there are now certain things that we expect to see on websites and we expect to see them in certain places presented in a clear way.

Many designers don’t see the point in learning the psychology surrounding websites, however learning a few basic points could make the difference between a sale and a bounce-back.

In websites we trust

When people land on a website, they need to feel like they trust the site immediately. Users are very wary about disclosing personal details, no matter how good the website looks, so you need to create a website that puts visitors at ease so that they are more inclined to sign-up to your newsletter or buy a product.

Familiarity and patterns

If people can’t find what they’re looking for easily, then they will click straight off the site. Don’t get me wrong, you can get creative with it – however there needs to be some kind of structure and familiarity to the site so that it is clear to use.

Be consistent

Your branding needs to be consistent across all your platforms, but especially your website. Tying in with familiarity and recognisable patterns, the visitor needs to know that you know your brand inside out. If you can’t even get your branding right, then that will give the user an uneasy feeling when browsing your website.

Picture this

As the old saying goes, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ and that is never truer than when it comes to websites. When it comes to websites, people don’t like reading, and visuals and colors will both catch their eye and hopefully keep them on a page. People like to see pictures, if the brain feels overwhelmed with text, people will click off.

Color it in

Speaking of color, there is a separate color psychology that can be worked in to web design psychology. Depending on what mood and feel you want your website to project, you will need to find the appropriate color to match.

Red – passionate and fiery

Yellow – happy and warm

Green – growth and nature

Orange – warm and energetic

Purple – rich and creative

Blue – fresh and calming

Black – mysterious and classic

White – pure and adaptable

Grey – sophisticated and conservative

Brown – reliable and stable

Take a look at the following infographic displaying how some familiar brands connect their logos to a specific mood.